|
motbob
United States12546 Posts
Hello, everybody. It's that time again. Time to explain a brand new MLG format to the TL community.
As most of you know, MLG Providence is the MLG National Championship. The prize pool is $120,000, much larger than previous MLGs. MLG has decided to use a format for Providence that rewards continued attendance of MLG events.
Here's the gist of the format: there are two categories of players. There are 16 seeds who are placed directly into the Championship Bracket. And there is a 256-man Open Bracket for the general public. The Open Bracket is going to be a real slog; there will almost certainly be a huge amount of top talent flying to Rhode Island for this tournament.
Four players from the Open Bracket are placed into the Championship Winners' bracket. Twelve are placed into the Championship Losers' Bracket.
I think that's enough prologue before I present the first diagram.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/motbob/Providence3.png)
click to enlarge
As you can see, the higher your seed, the more advantageous your position. The #1-#4 seeds are in a remarkably good position; if they win at least one Bo3, they make it into the top 8, and thus the prize money.
Well, how are seeds determined? Seeds are determined by MLG Circuit Rank Points. To quote the MLG rules:
Registered Players will be seeded for each Event using the following criteria in this order: Starcraft 2 Pro Status Rankings, Starcraft 2 Pro Circuit Rank Points, and Starcraft 2 Online Qualifier Rank Points. Starcraft 2 Pro Status is itself determined by pro circuit rank points, so the Pro Circuit Rank Points are the real key here. There is a list of players sorted by MLG rank points here.
For those who don't want to click the link, the top 16 players, and therefore the ones who will be receiving a seed in Providence, are the following.
#1: IdrA #2: HuK #3: NaNiwa #4: MMA #5: KiWiKaKi #6: SLush #7: Ret #8: MC #9: Bomber #10: SjoW #11: SeleCT #12: DongRaeGu #13: HayprO #14: BoxeR #15: PuMa #16: Rain
Rain and Incontrol are tied in rank points, but Rain gets the spot. I'll explain why at the end of this post.
So a filled-in bracket for MLG Providence would look like this (EDIT: wren points out below that this is what the bracket would look like only if all 16 seeded players were attending):
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/motbob/Providence_full.png)
click to enlarge
Note that Idra is probably not so happy that he got the #1 seed. Also, note that having a seed is very useful; the top 4 seeds only have to win 4 Bo3s, total, to win the whole thing. A player from the Open Bracket would have to play 13-19. This fits with the overall design philosophy of rewarding multiple MLG trips.
Anyway, that about covers it. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them in the post below.
Disclaimer: nothing in this thread is confirmed by MLG.
|
motbob
United States12546 Posts
Incontrol is tied with Rain for the 16th spot in raking points. But Rain gets the seed. Why?
First, we need to look at how players are ranked.
Registered Players will be seeded for each Event using the following criteria in this order: Starcraft 2 Pro Status Rankings, Starcraft 2 Pro Circuit Rank Points, and Starcraft 2 Online Qualifier Rank Points.
So players are ranked by Pro Status Rankings, primarily. What the heck are Pro Status Rankings?
The top 16 Players, determined by Starcraft 2 Pro Circuit Rank Points immediately following each Pro Circuit Competition, starting after Columbus, will earn Pro Status. Ties will be broken by each Player’s Ranking in the most recent Event. If Event Rankings are used to break a tie, the best Event performance will win the tiebreaker.
So there you have it. Incontrol and Rain are tied for Pro Status, and the tiebreaker is who did better in the most recent event. Since Orlando is the most recent event, and Rain did better than Incontrol in Orlando, Rain gets the seed.
|
Important to remember that none of the players are confirmed that they're attending. 29 days before the tournament is the deadline for confirming attendance, so there's time for the specifics to change.
|
Top of the winer bracket looks so stacked.
|
I bet there are some Koreans wishing they had come to Orlando so they could get into the top 16 now.
|
so everything is still bo3? come on MLG y u no learning? 
the bomber/mc/idra bracket gonna be fun.
|
So if one of the Koreans does not attend, then what happens? Incontrol is seeded?
Edit: I ask because you said "only these players" get seeds, you meant the top 16 right? Or did you mean that only those named players are guaranteed seeds?
|
motbob
United States12546 Posts
On October 17 2011 12:24 SimDawg wrote: So if one of the Koreans does not attend, then what happens? Incontrol is seeded?
Edit: I ask because you said "only these players" get seeds, you meant the top 16 right? Or did you mean that only those named players are guaranteed seeds? I clarified the wording a little bit.
|
wow the top half of the winners bracket is so stacked....all the best koreans are on the top half. Lots of top players gonna be eliminated from that part of the bracket.
|
MC vs IdrA so early ;_; atleast no IdrA vs HuK until finals :p
|
|
On October 17 2011 12:24 SimDawg wrote: So if one of the Koreans does not attend, then what happens? Incontrol is seeded?
Edit: I ask because you said "only these players" get seeds, you meant the top 16 right? Or did you mean that only those named players are guaranteed seeds? If there is a player who declines his invitation, he is removed and everyone below moves up a spot.
If the drop-out happens after the placement deadline, they use what's called a Replacement Player (see Tyler for Orlando). Next player on the rankings moves up to seed 16, but is placed in the drop-out's spot.
|
Not entirely relevant, do results at Providence affect how players start next season? Like, will placing first here or in points get you seeded in pool play next season even though points are supposedly reset?
|
I love how Idra vs MC rematch is a very good possibility already lol
|
motbob
United States12546 Posts
On October 17 2011 12:37 ThaZenith wrote: Not entirely relevant, do results at Providence affect how players start next season? Like, will placing first here or in points get you seeded in pool play next season even though points are supposedly reset?
That's something MLG will decide before the start of next season.
|
|
Kinda ridiculous that MVP won an MLG and will have to start at the beginning of the open bracket.
Why doesn't he at least get advanced standing at the end of the open bracket for winning an MLG?
|
On October 17 2011 12:38 fAnTaCy wrote: I love how Idra vs MC rematch is a very good possibility already lol
Hasn't MC knocked Idra out of EVERY tournament they have met in?
|
Wasn't there something about all past champions being invited back?
eg. how does MVP fit into all of this?
|
Holy crap, the higher seeded players get an insane advantage. It makes sense to be rewarded for consistency by MLG but damn, that just a bit much almost. Also I'm glad Rain got the 16th seed, although I'd prefer MVP since he actually won an event
|
|
|
|